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Merry Belsnickel And A Happy New Year
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In Halifax, Pennsylvania, a town that, despite my being a former Pennsylvania resident, I had never heard of before now (it's a dot on the map upriver from Harrisburg), they have a Christmas tradition called "Belsnickeling." It's when people go door-to-door dressed in furry Santa costumes with chains and bells and give little presents of cake and drinks if you can guess their identities. I know, seems odd, but they do it. Anyway, Porter Airlines in Canada printed an article misplacing the tradition: Instead of Halifax, PA, they put it in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the bigger and more well-known Halifax, and claimed "most Nova Scotians" belsnickel. They do not. How did that happen? Simple: They used Wikipedia as a resource. Now, it turns out that another part of Nova Scotia once belsnickeled, but not Halifax. Oh, well, now you know all about Belsnickeling, which I assume you didn't know before. (CBC)
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